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Douglas Island Bowl
The Alaska Airlines Bowl, previously known as the Douglas Island Bowl Presented by Alaska Airlines, is a NCAA Division II college football bowl game that was held annually at Douglas Island Stadium in Juneau, Alaska from 2014 until 2019 and is currently out to bid for a new host stadium. The bowl is currently affiliated with the Great Northwest Athletic Conference and Northern Pacific Conference. It was previously affiliated with the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference from its inception in 2014 until 2018. It is one of only five Division II bowl games. The winner of the game is awarded the Joe Juneau Trophy, while the Richard Harris MVP Trophy is awarded to the bowl's most valuable player. The Douglas Island Bowl is the northernmost college bowl game in the country. History On November 23, 2013, the Douglas Island Bowl was proposed and featured a potential matchup between the champions of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference and the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference. On December 10, 2013 the NCAA announced that the game would be played annually at the stadium with the inaugural game being hosted on December 12, 2014. On July 18, 2016 it was announced that that year's edition of the game would be sponsored by Alaska Airlines giving the game the official title of the Douglas Island Bowl Presented by Alaska Airlines. It was later revealed in August 2019 that Alaska Airlines signed a 5-year deal worth over $2.5 million to sponsor the game, signing them through the 2020 season. Should the game end in 2019 however, then Alaska would be entitled to a refund of approximately $500,000 from the game's organizers. The 2018 edition of the game, which saw Colorado Mines defeat Central Washington, was the final game of the trial period and a NCAA committee met in February 2019 about the future of the game. This decision was finally made official May 24, 2019 when it was announced that Juneau would host the 2019 edition of the game on December 13, 2019. The game was later rescheduled for a week earlier, December 6, to avoid playing on Friday the 13th. Following the 2019 game it will officially leave Alaska and be placed out to bid for other host cities and stadiums. If none can be found before the 2020 season begins then the game will be retired. Format Since 2014, the Douglas Island Bowl is played on the second Friday in December with invitations being sent to the champions of the Great Northwest Athletic Conference and the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference unless those teams are taking part of the NCAA Division II playoffs, then invitations are extended to the highest finishing non-playoff team from both conferences. For the 2019 edition of the game, the champions of the GNAC and Northern Pacific Athletic Conference will play on the first Friday in December. The NorPac champion will be the designated home team. Broadcast KTBY, an Anchorage-based Fox affiliate, had exclusive television and radio rights for the 2014 and 2015 matchups although both were streamable online for free at DouglasIslandBowl.com. KTBY continued local broadcasts of the game for the state of Alaska while ESPN began airing the game nationwide with the 2016 matchup. The 2018 matchup was broadcast on ROOT Sports after ESPN broke their contract and chose not to broadcast any future games after the 2017 had a abysmal attendance and television numbers. Ironically, the 2018 edition of the game would prove to be the second-highest attended after the inaugural game. There is currently no television deal in place for the 2019 edition of the game. KTBY announced they would broadcast the game over the radio but had no intentions of airing it on television. Game results MVPs Most appearances Wins by conference